This is a series of 10 short videos, hosted by the National Science Foundation, each featuring scientists, research, and green technologies. The overall goal of this series is to encourage people to ask questions and look beyond fossil fuels for innovative solutions to our ever-growing energy needs.

This activity leads students through a sequence of learning steps that highlight the embedded energy that is necessary to produce various types of food. Students start by thinking through the components of a basic meal and are later asked to review the necessary energy to produce different types of protein.

This short video reviews how nations and individuals can work together to reduce the emission of CO2. It discusses strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (energy conservation, renewable energies, change in energy use) and the role that government can play in this process.

This unit engages students in a variety of activities that analyze and reflect on the role of social media in our everyday lives. This includes options for collaborative group work, reading nonfiction articles, a design challenge and presentations to communicate ideas. The unit also includes a formal writing assessment option that aligns with the Common Core State Writing Standards. Activities can be adapted or combined in a variety of ways to support student reflection and analysis. These lessons were piloted in 9th grade English classes but are suitable or a range of secondary students. 

This multi-week project begins with a measurement of baseline consumptive behavior followed by three weeks of working to reduce the use of water, energy, high-impact foods, and other materials. The assignment uses an Excel spreadsheet that calculates direct energy and water use as well as indirect CO2 and water use associated with food consumption. After completing the project, students understand that they do indeed play a role in the big picture. They also learn that making small changes to their lifestyles is not difficult and they can easily reduce their personal impact on the environment.

Learn how you can set and meet effective goals!

Footage: pexels.com

Welcome to Personal Responsibility! In this course you will learn about integrity and other personal motivators.
footage: pexels.com

This video describes the foundation Plant for the Planet, a foundation created by a 9-year-old German boy, Felix. This foundation has planted more than 500,000 trees in Germany, which he says help sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The student rallies, first his community and then other children, to plant millions of trees to offset our energy-use emissions.

This is an interactive video in which students navigate around a virtual island while learning about the characteristics of land formations and bodies of water.

In this 45-60 minute high-stakes board game, everyone wins or everyone loses. As they play, groups of three to four children ages 8 to 13 build an understanding of how human actions impact global change. As teams, children play a game in which chance and choice determine the fate of a lone polar bear on an ice floe.

Students describe the steps in a product life cycle assessment and suggest ways to reduce the environmental impacts of engineered products.

This visualization offers a variety of realistic actions anyone can take to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Topics include how to create an energy efficient home, how to practice sustainable shopping, how to adopt sustainable eating habits, and how to prioritize eco-friendly transportation and travel.

Redford Center Stories is an environmental storytelling initiative for students in grades 5th-12th, designed to empower youth as changemakers to impact environmental justice, restoration, and regeneration through the power of storytelling.

Students will embody a specific person who is impacted by climate change and engage in conversations during a mixer. In these conversations, the students will learn how people from around the world are impacted by climate change.

Teacher Jeremy Howard takes a history lesson about the Holocaust and makes it personal. By showing students video testimony of survivors and how prejudice can lead to eventual genocide, they not only learn what events led up to the Holocaust, but question themselves as to what they would have done in similar circumstances. It is a lesson about personal responsibility, the meaning of empathy in today's world, and choosing to do the right thing in their daily lives.

This visualization focuses on public acceptance of climate science. The set of interactive maps illustrates public opinion on a variety of climate beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support. The data is from the Yale Project on Climate Communication.

Students investigate how much greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide and methane) their family releases into the atmosphere each year and relate it to climate change. To address this, students use the Environmental Protection Agency Personal Emissions Calculator to estimate their family's greenhouse gas emissions and to think about how their family could reduce those emissions.